A now-dead serial rapist and murderer has been identified as a suspect in two brutal East Bay killings from the 1970s, according to law enforcement officials.

Police in both Newark and Hayward said modern DNA testing technology enabled them to identify Fred Bernard Farnham as a suspect in the rape and beating deaths of 59-year-old Nellie Hicks and 48-year-old Theresa Pica.

Hicks was allegedly killed in her Newark home on May 10, 1972, by Farnham, who police believe entered through a back door. Pica was also killed in her own home after Farnham allegedly entered the Hayward house through an open door or window on May 21, 1979.

Convicted serial rapist and murderer Fred Farnham appears in prison mugshots from 1973 and 1977. Farnham, who died in Oregon in 2007 at the age of 73, is suspected in the killings of 59-year-old Nellie Hicks of Newark and 48-year-old Hayward resident Theresa Pica. (Hayward Police Department)

Following their killings, both women were discovered by their children, according to police.

Investigators at the time believed the cases were linked based on their similarities and officers from both departments worked together throughout the years to solve the homicides.

Police said Farnham, a former Santa Clara County resident who died in an Oregon hospital in 2007 at age 73, had several rape convictions during his life, including some from the Bay Area.

Any law enforcement agencies with similar cases are being encouraged to contact Hayward Police Detective Robert Purnell at 510-293-7176.

The Serological Research Institute in Richmond, the Othram laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas, the FBI and Astrea Forensics in Santa Cruz all contributed to the investigation.

Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.